


The Only Answer

by theimpossiblegeekygrrl



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Voldemort Wins, Angst, Azkaban, Community: grangersnape100, Execution, F/M, Hopeful Ending, Implied/Referenced Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-11
Updated: 2016-04-11
Packaged: 2018-06-01 14:21:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6523669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theimpossiblegeekygrrl/pseuds/theimpossiblegeekygrrl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone was dead, but her.  Such things came from an abundance of cleverness, and the intelligence to keep from getting caught. </p><p>Until she’d put her trust in the wrong person.</p><p>Now, Hermione sat in her dank cell in Azkaban, waiting for the cold death that soon awaited her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Only Answer

It was over.              
  
The war, long lost.  
  
Harry was dead.  Everyone was dead, but her.  Such things came from an abundance of cleverness, and the intelligence to keep from getting caught.  
  
Until she’d put her trust in the wrong person.  
  
Now, Hermione sat in her dank cell in Azkaban, waiting for the cold death that soon awaited her.  She’d been in solitary confinement for … had it been a year?  Six months?  Time had lost all meaning in a place where day and night were as grey as the dull shift that chafed her skin.  
  
It had all been for nothing.  
  


* * *

  
“Miss Granger?”  
  
Hermione’s skin prickled as the familiar voice filled the small space.  She looked away from the barred window, where she had been admiring her “view” of the endless grey waves, blanketed by the forms that made her skin crawl.  
  
“Professor Snape,” she said, leaning against the wall and studying his appearance.  
  
Severus Snape looked healthier today than she’d ever seen him.  He’d finally been able to enjoy being Headmaster in the time since the war ended.  His cheeks had filled out; the coat that had hung on his frame now fit.  
  
“Have you considered my offer?” he asked.  
  


* * *

  
Hermione licked her lips, wishing she had another choice.  
  
The truth was that she wanted to live.  She had to live – to make sure her parents were safe.  Join the resistance and end Voldemort  
once and for all.  
  
And Snape …  
  
He was the Order’s spy, after all - they had found that out the night before Harry had gone to the Forbidden Forrest and been murdered.  He still was, if she interpreted his coded words correctly whenever he came to visit.  
  
“I’ve considered it,” Hermione whispered, looking at the buttons on his coat.  Anywhere but his eyes.  
  
“And?” he pressed.  
  


* * *

  
“Yes,” she said.  Sighing, she turned to the wall and started to tremble.  
  
“Hermione,” Snape said.  “It’s not the end of the world.  When it’s over, you can cut the ribbons and marry who you choose.”  
  
“But if I don’t choose now, it _is_ the end of my world – my life.”  She felt him come closer to her, his warmth so welcome that she leaned against him, momentarily unashamed of how much she needed just the simplest of comforts.  
  
“Do you wish to die, then?”  
  
“No,” she admitted, shame staining her face.  “I want to live.”  
  
“Then you need to undress.”  
  


* * *

  
“I’m so dirty, sir.  Must it be now?”  
  
“Yes,” he answered, sighing.  “I brought some things, in case you said yes.  Hermione, your … execution is scheduled for this afternoon.  If they don’t smell that it’s been – “  
  
_“Merlin save us!”_ she cried, feeling like she might retch.  
  
“ _He_ can’t,” Snape said, his voice harsh.  “We can only save ourselves now.  _Only us_.”  
  
“And what do you get from this?” she wept.  
  
“A partner,” he said simply.  “One that’s been needed.  Among other things, that are also needed.”  
  
“Among other things,” Hermione said, closing her eyes as she accepted her fate.  
  


* * *

  
His bag, modified as hers had been during the war, contained clothes, a washcloth, and two small vials.  
  
“The flannel has been charmed – Filius’s invention,” Snape said when she raised a brow to the dry cloth.  
  
In some last attempt at modesty, Hermione had him turn so that she could wash herself in peace after removing her shift and shapeless undergarments.  Rosemary scented bubbles cleansed her, even healed the raw skin left from the straw mattress that served as her bed.  She felt his Cleansing charm on her hair, all of it making her feel just a little more human.

* * *

  
“Here,” Snape said, passing her a heavy white towel though his back remained to her.  
  
Hermione nodded and rubbed her skin with it before wrapping the towel around her.  She felt calmer than she’d been in months, her thoughts more clear.  And the room was so _warm_.  
  
“How?” she asked, seeing her answer when he turned, revealing the silver doe in front of him.  
  
“I didn’t want you to freeze to death,” he said, grabbing the vials.  “And I wanted the choice to be yours – not one from fear.  Is it still yes?”  
  
Hermione took a deep breath and nodded.  
  


* * *

  
“Drink these.”  
  
Hermione studied the potions in her hands.  One was a health potion if her memory from class served her correct, and the other -  
  
“The other will ensure that it will happen.  Now.”  
  
She looked into his eyes, wondering how they could be so calm and still.  Even though she was feeling like herself again (if she even remembered what she was like in the years before) truth be told she was terrified.  
  
“It’s the only way.  For both of us, actually,” Snape said, frowning.    
  
“Right,” she said.  Unstoppering both vials, she drank them down quickly, one after the other.  
  


* * *

  
“Are you a virgin, Hermione?”  
  
“Yes,” she admitted, the deep stain once again crawling over her skin.  
  
Snape shook his head, an expression of pain passing over his face.  “I’m sorry it’s with me, like this.”  
  
“Ron and I were planning on - ” she started, but the ache in her chest was too great to finish.  Too many thoughts of the past, of what once might have been.  
  
“When we leave here, I’ll take you anywhere you like.  I have permission to take you on a long honeymoon, and Lucius has offered any of his vacation homes to us.”  
  


* * *

  
He cast spells over the mattress, making it a proper bed.  The white towel became a coverlet that she burrowed beneath while he removed his clothes.  When he joined her, his heat making the bed feel like a furnace, she started to tremble again.  
  
Once upon a time, Hermione had read a thousand books, preparing for this moment, no matter who it was to be with.  But now, she realized this was one experience that no book could prepare a girl for.  
  
“How long have I been here?” she asked softly.  
  
“Five years,” Snape said, taking her hand in his.  
  


* * *

  
“Is our world very different?”  
  
He nodded.  “But not so much that it can’t be reset.”  
  
Hermione swallowed.  She was twenty six, and would have to start over, fighting in a world that she would have to relearn.  It would take time, but time was something she would not have to fight for anymore, with Snape’s protection.  
  
She spread her legs, feeling him settle between her thighs.  The tip of his cock just touched her entrance.  
  
“It may not be pleasant this time,” he said hoarsely.  
  
Turning her head, she looked at the fading silver doe and closed her eyes.  
  


* * *

  
The steel blue robes encased Hermione like ice.  
  
Severus (he would always be that now) insisted on carrying her out of her cell.  After they had … she’d been too weak to get out of bed.  He’d dressed her like a child, pulling her hair into a messy knot that would suffice until she had the energy to do it herself.  
  
He pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead as he carried her to the Warden’s office.  
  
“Headmaster, what are you doing with my prisoner?” Selwyn asked.  
  
“Your prisoner is pregnant with my child,” Severus said, tightening his hold on her.  
  


* * *

  
Hermione cringed away from the Dementor, feeling any happiness she might have felt about being free leave her.  The thing stretched its bony hand over her, running it over her skin, before turning away and leaving the room.  
  
Selwyn stared at Severus, barely concealing his anger.  “You could have informed me.”  
  
“The Dark Lord didn’t ask me to,” Severus replied coldly.  “He instructed me to find a wife and produce an heir – and I’ve wanted this girl since the first time she defied me in class.”  
  
“You disgust me,” Selwyn sneered.  
  
“Careful,” Severus warned.  “Remember who you are speaking to.”  
  


* * *

  
They used the Warden’s fireplace to leave, Floo’ing to Severus’s office at Hogwarts.  The portrait of Professor Dumbledore was sleeping, something Hermione was glad of, though she would want to talk to him later.  Severus carried her into his quarters, laying her on a bed made up in thick, emerald green quilts that felt like heaven.  
  
“I’ll have the elves bring you some dinner – you need to start rebuilding your strength.  Especially now,” Severus said.  “The Dark Lord will be here at midnight to perform the handfasting ceremony.”  
  
“And then?” she asked.  
  
“Then,” he said, his eyes flashing, “It begins.”

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to LJ's GrangerSnape100 for the "Fornicate or Die Challenge"


End file.
